The sender of the enclosed Alert notes: "In the 21st century, this is a
reprehensible and abhorent betrayal of everything that a civilized country must
stand for. It is a barbaric and exploitive use of the most vulnerable and
innocent of creatures. There can be no justification for such abuse and cruelty.
This must end!"

Yet the abuse is often justified: the justification often given for the horrors
inflicted on animals has its roots in the judeo.christian tradition, in the
definition of dominion:

In the Torah, humanity is given dominion over animals (Gen. 1:26), which gives
us the right to use animals for legitimate needs. Animal flesh can be consumed
for food; animal skins can be used for clothing." Prof Richard Schwartz

The alert with information on the Monkey breeking farm in 'Moshav Mazor' Israel
requests that a petition be sent to the Minister of Enviornmental Protection. By
all means sign the petition, but understand that it will do little to halt the
breeding of monkeys in Israel, as the biblical mandate which puts the interests
of humans above animals is a guiding principle for those involved in harming
animals. While we speak of the harm done to the monkeys, they speak of the
alledged good done to humans and so our words fall on hearts numbed by dominion

Tweny five hundred years ago in India the concept of Ahimsa was introduced to
the population by the Jain religion: non-violence for ALL beings. To this day
due to the influence of this concept, sometimes described as the most dangerous
idea in the world, as it threatens the hegemony of those who justify the use of
violence for their own ends.

The twenty first century in India has seen the implementation of extensive
animal protection legislation most notably, as it relates to increasing abuse in
laboratories in Israel, is the great decrease in the use of animals in the state
of Gujarat. In India monkeys roam freely and mingle with the human population,
where for the most part they are unharmed. Not only are there no monkey breeding
farms, India has banned their export of its indigenous monkey population to
laboratories abroad on the grounds that they would be subjected to abuse:

"Monkey Export Banned by India: In 1977, the Rt Hon’ble Muriel, Lady Dowding,
the founder of the BWC movement, met the then Prime Minister Mr Morarji Desai in
New Delhi and requested him to ban the export of monkeys as they were being
subjected to intense cruelty in American and other foreign research
laboratories." Beauty Without Cruelty

The protection of monkeys in India is a direct result of the belief that man
does not have dominion over the animals, rather that all beings exist to be
mutually beneficial to each other.

Very little progress towards ending animal suffering will be made in the west
until we address the religious leaders who make it all possible by lending an
air of respectability to cruelty and abuse. Their invocation of dominion to
justify every manner of animal exploitation in the name of religion is a strong
message that can only be countered directly both by presenting alternate
religious views and in the secular realm with scientific information. Until
those who propagate this message come to understand that the abuse they so
piously advocate is intolerable our pleas for mercy and compassion will fall on
deaf ears.

The following are email addresses for Rabbis, with the proper salutation. Please
write and urge them to call for an end to the Monkey Breeding Farm in 'Moshav
Mazor' Israel:

In the 21st century, this is a reprehensible and abhorrent betrayal of everything
that a civilized country must stand for. It is a barbaric and exploitive use of
the most vulnerable and innocent of creatures. There can be no justification for
such abuse and cruelty. This must end!